NEWS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
FAIRHOPE Hospice & Palliative Care Celebrates November’s National Hospice and Palliative Care Month
LANCASTER, Ohio (November 6, 2018) – Hospice is not a place but is high-quality care that enables patients and families to focus on living as fully as possible despite a life-limiting illness. Palliative care brings this holistic model of care to people earlier in the course of a serious illness. November is National Hospice and Palliative Care Month and hospice and palliative care programs across the country are reaching out to help people understand all that hospice and palliative care offer.
In recent months, a number of notable Americans have died. They include Senator John McCain, the queen of soul Aretha Franklin, and former first lady Barbara Bush. In many media reports, they were described as having “given up” on curative care late in their lives. Ms. Franklin opted for hospice care; Mrs. Bush received what was described as “comfort care.”
It is essential that people understand that hospice and palliative care is not giving up, it is not the abandonment of care, it is not reserved for the imminently dying,” said Edo Banach, president and CEO of the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization. “Hospice is a successful model of person-centered care that brings hope, dignity and compassion when they are most needed. This is one reason that the national My Hospice Campaign was launched this year.
Every year, nearly 1.5 million Medicare beneficiaries receive care from hospices in this country, reports NHPCO. Hospice and palliative care programs provide pain management, symptom control, psychosocial support, and spiritual care to patients and their family caregivers when a cure is not possible.
As Pat O’Rourke, a hospice volunteer at FAIRHOPE Hospice & Palliative Care noted, “I realized that becoming a FAIRHOPE Hospice volunteer would be an outstanding way to give back in a meaningful way. Following every visit with a patient, I give thanks for being called to participate in such a wonderful endeavor.”
Throughout the month of November, FAIRHOPE Hospice & Palliative Care will be joining organizations across the nation hosting activities that will help the community understand how important hospice and palliative care can be.
More information about hospice, palliative care, and advance care planning is available from FAIRHOPE Hospice & Palliative Care www.fairhopehospice.org or from NHPCO’s CaringInfo.org.
To learn more about FAIRHOPE Hospice & Palliative Care, visit www.fairhopehospice.org, or find them on Facebook at www.facebook.com/FairhopeHospice
FAIRHOPE Hospice & Palliative Care is a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization. Since 1982, FAIRHOPE Hospice & Palliative Care has provided exceptional and compassionate care in our community. We are dedicated to meeting the emotional, spiritual and physical needs of those we serve by honoring life during its most difficult times. We will meet you on your journey wherever you need us. This includes serving you at our serene 38-acre campus in Lancaster, home to the Pickering House hospice in-patient facility and the Anita M. Turner grief center. We invite you to learn more about us by visiting our website at www.fairhopehospice.org.
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